Sunna Símonardóttir writes about her analysis on parenting and gender, primarily based on the instance of Iceland.
Research sometimes level to the Nordic international locations as examples of nations which have positioned a robust emphasis on gender equality within the building of their household insurance policies, and which have achieved excessive fertility charges. This Nordic very best of gender equality introduced with it the imaginative and prescient of shared parenthood, in impact that we should always attempt for a society characterised by {couples} the place each mother and father/companions are energetic within the labour market, and each deal with their youngsters.
Iceland enjoys a popularity as some of the gender equal international locations on the planet. The feminine labour drive participation in Iceland is nearly similar to that of males. This contributes to placing Iceland on high of the World Gender Hole Index, compiled by the World Financial Discussion board, a place the nation has held for a decade. The nation has additionally acquired a lot consideration for an modern method to parental go away the place fathers have loved a non-transferable parental go away quota since 2000.
The best nonetheless not achieved?
Nonetheless, while the state has actively tried to contain fathers, my findings recommend that the final discourse equates motherhood with parenthood and promotes an ideology of intensive mothering, which emphasises ladies´s innate character as major nurturers (Símonardóttir, 2016; Gíslason & Símonardóttir, 2018; Símonardóttir & Gíslason, 2018). How parenting tradition impacts fertility choices is a vital, however considerably neglected space of fertility analysis.
Sharon Hays’ (1996) evaluation of the ideology of intensive mothering has been very influential for analysis on parenting. Many students have picked up on Hays’ idea of intensive mothering to explain the modern parenting expertise in Western international locations (Elvin-Nowak & Thomsson, 2001; Lee et al., 2014). They recognised the paradox that this intensive, expert-led kind of mothering coincides with ladies’s elevated participation within the labour drive (Kanieski, 2010).
Embedded within the cultural script of intensive mothering is a substantial enlargement of mothering however this enlargement has additionally been linked to broader ideological shifts in our notion of kids as social capital to be invested in (Vandenbeld Giles, 2014) and neoliberal concepts about moms as managers of threat by way of knowledgeable choice making (Murphy, 2003).
The idea of attachment was initially developed by British psychologist, psychiatrist, and psychoanalyst John Bowlby. The principle tenet of the speculation is that an intense and fixed emotional and bodily attachment between mom and little one is required for the wholesome growth of the kid (Bowlby, 1969, Bowlby, 1973, Bowlby, 1980). My examine on attachment idea discourse current in instructional supplies for Icelandic mother and father has proven that these supplies incorporate basic concepts in regards to the primacy of the mom and the intensification of motherhood. On the identical time, little effort has been made to include fathers into the discourse or to incorporate them as significant brokers in terms of attachment and bonding or to advertise a tradition of shared parenthood (Símonardóttir, 2016). Though a lot of the instructional supplies merely handle moms immediately, some effort has been made to introduce a extra inclusive, gender-neutral language of ‘caregivers’ or ‘mother and father’. Nevertheless, nonetheless, most of the time the language reverts to the ‘mom’ language. Fathers are merely not anticipated to completely inhabit the position of caregiver in the identical manner as moms are.
Breastfeeding and maternal self-identity
The deal with unique breastfeeding in Iceland can be an vital issue in terms of parenting beliefs and the lived experiences of parenting. The prevalence of breastfeeding is historically very excessive within the Scandinavian international locations the place we’ve got witnessed an upward pattern in direction of greater breastfeeding charges and length. Virtually all Icelandic moms provoke breastfeeding. Each coverage and observe are consistent with the World Well being Organisation suggestions.
My examine on the experiences of Icelandic moms who had struggled with breastfeeding or been unable to breastfeed reveals how carefully linked their self-identity as moms is with with the ability to breastfeed. It additionally reveals how usually they need to account for his or her toddler feeding practices to mates, household and even strangers. Moms who’re unable to breastfeed usually really feel that their mothering capabilities and devotion to their little one are being ranked and in contrast, particularly by different moms who decide them each consciously and unconsciously (Símonardóttir, 2016b). This substantial deal with unique breastfeeding and the prevalence of attachment idea discourses – and total adherence to the ideology of intensive mothering – point out that there are competing discourses at play. Highly effective biomedical discourses proclaim that motherhood ought to be thought to be pure and out of doors social formations. On the identical time, feminist or different gender egalitarian discourses have been unsuccessful in addressing and offering mother and father with counter discourses that problem the extremely gendered parts of this discourse and its hyperlink to idealised variations of motherhood.
Fertility in Iceland
The fertility charge in Iceland has been among the many highest in Europe, even among the many different Nordic international locations. Now there are clear indicators that that is altering. In 2020, the entire fertility charge was measured at 1.7 youngsters for each Icelandic girl, a determine that has not been decrease since information started (Statistics Iceland, 2021).
The typical age of first-time moms has additionally been steadily going up in latest many years. The comparatively latest drop in fertility in Iceland, subsequently, presents a super case examine for understanding how and why {couples} and people resolve to have fewer youngsters than earlier than. As beforehand said, structural components influencing fertility have been deemed constructive within the Icelandic context; household insurance policies in Iceland, together with paid parental go away for each mother and father, and inexpensive high quality day-care for kids.
Faircloth (2013) has famous how intensive motherhood has been imported from the US and UK to different cultural settings the place its interpretation and illustration will be very completely different. In France, as Badinter (2012) and Faircloth (2013) have proven, the place there may be wealthy feminist historical past and historic recognition of girls’s identities past motherhood, intensive mothering is seen as a risk to the feminist trigger and girls’s liberty.
A theoretical hole is current within the literature in terms of the context of Icelandic fertility (Jónsson, 2018). Subsequently, I consider that it will be notably vital to look at the parenting tradition of the Nordic international locations and the coexistence of shared parenting and intensive mothering narratives while critically partaking with the pull in direction of intensive mothering throughout the context of Nordic feminism. This enhanced deal with parenting tradition may assist to combine feminist views into fertility explanations, offering a useful understanding of how shifting alternative buildings for men and women affect fertility and the way gendered parenting ideologies and circumstances have an effect on choices relating to the timing and variety of youngsters.
Sunna Símonardóttir is a postdoctoral researcher on the College of Iceland. She accomplished her PhD in Sociology on the College of Iceland in 2017 and has revealed broadly on parenting and gender. This weblog put up relies on her PhD thesis. In her present undertaking she makes use of qualitative strategies to look at fertility intentions and behavior in Iceland.
